SHORT MAT

The Short Mat Game

Updated 2 January 2017 with additional picture

In fall and winter, we switch from the outdoor bowls game to the indoor short mat game with two rinks laid out in Anderson House.

This video shows two experts playing the first four ends of a singles short mat game. It is very unlikely that you will face any opponent in our club who possesses the uncanny accuracy of these two champion players!

Indoor short mat bowling is similar to outdoor lawn bowling on the greens, except that it is played on a mat that is one-third of the length of a bowling rink and only six feet wide.

Just like lawn bowling, the game is played with full-sized bowls which are aimed at the jack in an attempt to get as many bowls as you can closer to the jack than those of your opponent. Unlike lawn bowling, these bowls have to negotiate a small wooden block placed in the middle of the mat. If you strike the block, or roll your bowl off the delivery mat, your bowl is “dead” and is removed from the game.